FARMINGTON — The wood clapboards on the house where the pastor of St. James Episcopal Church lives, damaged by woodpeckers on every side, can come off. Farmington's Historic District Commission ruled Tuesday, Sept. 15, that the parish home at 12 Diamond Glen Road can be re-sided in composite boards, on one condition: the boards must be the narrow kind, showing 4.5 inches each instead of the 7 inches the contractor proposed, to come closer to the look of the old siding.
Pastor George Roberts, who lives in the house, told the commission the siding is aging, according to the commission's minutes. Bill McNeil of Epic Exteriors LLC, the contractor, proposed Everlast composite boards that abut one another on stainless-steel brackets instead of overlapping like vinyl, with a 30-year warranty that covers the color.
The commission had some concern about adding the composite to the materials it allows, the minutes say. Chair Jay Bombara said the worry is how a new product ages in a district where "not everybody is as good about fixing up their houses." Commissioner Peter Mastrobattista said he had used the siding on a Carrington Lane home outside the district, and after a year and a half it showed no seams and looked like wood from the street. Alternate Ted Sanford said the commission has gradually accepted other materials that go on like wood and look like it.
The vote was unanimous, with the narrower reveal, each board's visible width, as a condition. The commission was told the narrower boards cost more. If that proves too much, a commissioner said, the applicant can come back and ask again.
The commission also unanimously approved a mini-split heating and cooling system and a steel chimney cap for owner Nathan Dembik at 2 Tunxis Street. Dembik said his window units "are not very attractive" and that the chimney, which had no cap, suffered "severe structural damage" from the weather. Commissioners suggested plantings to hide the outdoor unit but did not require them. "We can't control the painting. We can't control shrubbery," one commissioner said.
At 40 Colton Street, the owner reported woodpecker holes in a detached garage, Town Planner Shannon Rutherford told the commission. The owner needs no certificate of appropriateness, the commission's permission slip, to re-side two sides of the garage or replace a garage window. None of that work can be seen from the street, the commission agreed, which puts it outside the commission's reach.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. No clapboards, no woodpeckers. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has covered Farmington's Historic District Commission long enough to know what a siding reveal is, and to file a September vote without blushing. He has not yet been asked to rule on a woodpecker. He is on his second coffee. ☕
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